Unintended
by 22705
Summary: When Brennan snaps at Booth AGAIN, he snaps right back and leaves her to ponder the implications behind his words. Again. This time, she gets it.


**AN: Yet another 'how they hook up' fic. I haven't seen EitB, here in the forgotten land of Australia TV programmers have just shown The Salt In The Wounds. This is set post S3.  
I do have to make a minor apology to Goldenninde, who has a fantastic story also called Unintended. It wasn't deliberate. Mine is named after a song, by Muse. Possibly my favourite song of all time, hence I worked on this for weeks after it first entered my head to try and get it right, before I got fed up and just uploaded it. Possibly not as good as I had hoped. Was unsure of the rating, so have slapped it with an M, just in case. There's nothing graphic, but there is sex. And swearing. Don't say you weren't warned.  
Lastly: I do not own these characters, much as I would like to have David Boreanaz living under my bed. Mmmmm.  
**

* * *

She was sitting in her office, frowning at something. He paused in her doorway to watch her for a moment, brown eyes twinkling as they did every time they saw her. His lips quirked up in a small smile as he saw her let out a frustrated breath.

'Don't think I don't know you're there, Booth. What do you want? Or are you just planning on loitering in my doorway, getting in the way?' She never looked up, rapidly backspacing a couple of keys on her computer before typing something in its place.

Booth frowned, and stepped into her office.

'Come on now Bones, no need to be like that. You were frowning long before I got here, I could see you all the way from the other side of the lab. Don't try and pin your grouchiness on me.'

'I wasn't blaming you for anything, merely making an observation!' Bones snapped at him, finally raising her head to meet his eyes. She looked cross, but as Booth really looked at her, he noticed another expression in her face. One that he couldn't quite decipher, but definitely wasn't good.

'Everything okay there, Bones?' He asked, walking over and leaning on the side of her desk.

'Off! You'll mess up my files. Of course everything's okay, why do you always assume that something is wrong?' She flapped her hands at him, half raising out of her chair.

Booth stepped back hastily. 'Just. I know you.'

'Daisy, daffodil, Jupiter. Don't start with that again, you don't know me as well as you think.'

At this, something flared in Booth's eyes, and he took two steps towards her, angrily.

'I don't know you as well as I think? Are you fucking serious? Bones, at the risk of repeating myself, I have stood over death with you! I have seen you at your absolute best and your absolute worst. If you don't think that doesn't give me an insight into you, then you are very wrong. The things I know about you don't even begin to scratch the surface. Daisy, daffodil…superficial knowledge. Shit, I know things about you that you don't even know about yourself. And you know what, Temperance? I'm going to continue to know things about you. And when you figure those things out, you'll know what I mean. Until then, maybe I should pretend that I don't know a single damn thing about you!'

Booth looked for a moment as though he would continue, but he evidently decided against it, opting instead to turn and storm from her office, the force of his departure making her blinds flap against the window as he passed it.

Moments later, Angela appeared in the doorway.

'Uhh, sweetie…is everything okay? Booth left in kind of a hurry.' Receiving no response, she narrowed her eyes to gaze at her best friend, who was sitting as though stunned.

'Brennan!'

At this, a reaction. Brennan's head shot up to meet Angela's enquiring gaze, and she frowned.

'Hi Ange…'

Angela blinked, but upon receiving no further response to her presence, sighed and sat down, resigning herself to wait. Brennan's gaze had turned to the door, and she was deep in thought.

_What on earth has him so angry…I was frustrated, but not at him, and how could he tell? He always knows when I'm frustrated, or sad…why did he storm out…he wasn't angry when he arrived…why was he here, anyway? He's always here…and what was he going on about? Superficial knowledge…daffodils…oh._

Thoughts began spiralling faster in her head, rushing through almost before she could catch onto them. Little things Booth had said. She forced her brain to slow down, and process these thoughts. _'Everything happens eventually…making love, Bones is when two people become one…you're special…there is someone for everyone, you just have to be open enough to see it…'_

Suddenly Angela's voice made its way into her head, unbidden, and she actually had to check that her friend hadn't spoken, that it was really her imagination.

'_Let me know when you catch up to your own reality.'_

With that, she leapt from her chair so abruptly that Angela jumped and let out a tiny squeal of alarm. Brennan grabbed her coat, phone and keys, and left the lab at a run.

'Sweetie?' Angela followed Brennan's progress with her eyes, then sat back down with a thump and a 'hurmmph.' She would wait.

Brennan, meanwhile, had reached her car and was frantically heading out of the Jeffersonian with one destination in mind. She knew he was waiting for her, and she knew where.

_You could be my unintended choice_

_To live my life extended_

_You could be the one I'll always love_

_I'll be there as soon as I can_

_But I'm busy_

_Mending broken_

_Pieces of the life I had before_

'Booth? Open up, I know you're home!'

Brennan knocked on the door again, before it swung open. Booth looked back at her, exhausted.

'What is it, Bones?' He looked as though he carried the world on his shoulders, nonetheless he stepped aside to let her in. She walked past him without a word, stopping in the doorway to his living room to take a deep breath. If she thought about this, she would use logic to explain everything away. Now was not a time for brain, it was a time for heart.

'Bones?' Booth's concerned voice broke through her inner turmoil and she turned. At the look on her face, Booth stepped towards her, his eyes softening.

'Temperance.' It was so different to the way he had sworn her name in her office. Without her having to say a word, he had understood exactly why she was there.

'Angela calls this "catching up to my own reality."' She offered.

Booth continued to watch her. 'What do you call it?' He asked quietly.

Unable to meet his penetrating gaze any longer, she glanced down, noticing a tiny Matchbox car peeking out from under the couch. Parker's. She was suddenly hit with a memory, so brief she wondered how her brain had processed it so suddenly. The day Epps bought Parker an icecream. The frantic tone in Booth's voice. He would do anything for his son. Because he loved him. He loved her, too. She did not know how, or why, but she knew that he did. And that she, accidentally, loved him back.

Suddenly, she had the courage to raise her head, and she realised that he had not shifted his gaze once, that he was still watching her face, waiting for her answer. And this, more than anything, was the final shot of confidence that she needed to cross the room to where he stood.

'I call it finally understanding, Booth. It's the finished jigsaw puzzle. I'm tired of waiting, Booth, aren't you? It's time for eventually.'

Later, as both reflected on what followed, one thing stood out. It was unhurried. There was no passionate, flurried rush of movement as mouths clashed and hands frantically explored. There was no awkwardness, and at the same time, it was not slow. There was no tension, no pause to make sure that this was the right thing. They both knew it was. And as their mouths met, as their tongues explored each others mouths, it was not with the awkwardness of a first kiss. It was with the fluency of two old lovers becoming reacquainted. There was no ripping of clothes, no breaking of lamps or knocking over chairs. It was a dance, of two people who were finally where they should have been long ago. And later, in his bed, as he mapped her body with his skilled hands and his tongue, it was not an exploration, but a familiarisation. He already knew everything about her body, as she did about his. They just needed to experience it for themselves. And when Brennan came apart in his arms, Booth not long behind her, as they gasped and shuddered together, the feeling of how _right_ this was nearly overwhelmed her, until she realised that nothing would ever be the same unless he was with her. Now that she had experienced how it could be, she never wanted to go without it – without HIM - ever again.

Much later again, as they both lay, sated for the moment in Booth's twisted sheets, the magnitude of what they had done seemed to hit Brennan. She turned to Booth, who was idly twisting her hair around his fingers, watching it change colour in the light. He met her slightly panicked gaze with a reassuring one, knowing, always knowing, what she was thinking.

'This is us, Bones. This is how we're meant to be.'


End file.
